pyramiding

[kimmikins]

I am a new owner with a 16 month old leopard and im trying to do the best for him.. I am not sure how their shape is supposed to be he has slightly raised nobbles but i thought that was his shape.. I cant get him to eat his green when they have the limepowder on them so i thought i might put a bit of liquid calcium in his water.. what ya all think?? also i have listened and am going to provide a moisture den with some shpragum moss *Spellin* i really would like a blow by blow account of what i need to make him happy.. I have a uv bulb and a heat mate with a therm that regulated to 32 degrees baskin and 25 cool end i turn off at night,, i have a small pool of water for humidity.. i also live in the uk so outside livin is a no no.. i am worried about pytamiding and alll aspect of health issues but i think it is a fantastic forum here and all help is beneficial.. Its positive to have some heated debates sometimes as it show were passionate

 

[jobeanator]

i would defently provide a humid hide for him, IMO i think humidity is essiential to leopards. do you have a uva+uvb bulb? i have a zoomed powersun 100 watt for my leopard. what are you using for a substrate? id reccomend eco earth and a mixture of playsand for him to help it stay humid. make sure it also stays warm in there for him. it seems when the temps and humidity arent where there suppose to be, they get respiratory infections quite easy.

 

[Yvonne G]

Before I joined this forum and was "educated" on pyramiding (nobbles), I hatched a leopard egg and kept the baby on oat hay pellets (similar to rabbit pellets but made out of oat hay) with no humid hide. The tortoise is now about 4 maybe 5 years old and is VERY nobby! I made a BIG mistake in his care during his quick growing years.

You have to be kind of careful with how much moisture you have in the habitat, but leopards do need some sort of moisture during their growing years...either a humid hiding place or a substrate that you can moisten.

My tortoises won't eat their food if I sprinkle the calcium on it either. So I have provided each habitat with a cuttlebone (the skeleton of a cuttle fish and can be purchased in the bird section of the pet store). Some of them will nibble on the cuttlebone, and some won't. After reading a thread here on the forum about providing a small dish of calcium powder instead of putting it on the food, I have since gone to Pier 1 Imports and bought several small salt cellars (very small dishes with short sides). I have this dish in each habitat and the calcium powder in the dish. Some of the tortoises went right to the dish and started eating the powder, some ignore it. But its there for when they feel they need it. I have used liquid calcium in the water when I have a soft baby, but not normally.

 

[Tom]

How you house them has a lot to do with where you live and the ambient humidity your growing young tort is normally exposed to. Where I live it is very dry( single digit humidity ) most of the year, indoors and out. To maintain 40-50 percent humidity, I have to keep the tank mostly covered, use a moisture holding substrate, use a large flat water dish, use a humid hide and mist several times a day. I basically have to keep everything wet all the time. Any ventilation and everything just dries out. This would be WAY too much for most areas, but its not enough where I live. My impression of the UK, from friends who grew up there or lived there, is that its cold and damp in most areas, most of the time. So you'll have to determine how dry or damp it is in the room where you house your tort, taking into consideration the drying effect of all the heat lamps and normal household heating and air-conditioning systems, and make your best guess. If you go too dry, he'll pyramid more. If you go too damp and allow him to get a chill, you MIGHT induce a respiratory infection.

The current thinking is that pyramiding is primarily cosmetic and if ALL other factors are handled properly, it does them no harm. On the other hand, I think everyone will agree that respiratory infections in tortoises are always bad.

On Richard Fife's site( http://www.ivorytortoise.com/ ), he recommends a humid hide box for Leopards, but I don't know how humid it is where he lives or in the building where he keeps his torts. In my part of the world that's not enough. In your part of the world it might be too much. In my experience, if you keep the heat nice and high, you won't get a respiratory infection. However, with more heat it becomes more difficult to maintain higher levels of humidity.

Hopefully this will explain at least some of the conflicting advice out there. There just isn't one single way to do it right. There are a lot of factors to consider. Your best bet will probably be to take advice from someone who's had success with your species in your area and try to duplicate their set-up.

 

[kimmikins]

The UK has been known to be damp and miserable lol.. My tort is in my room and his enclosure is dry because i put his greens in for his feed and what he doesnt eat is almost hay like by the evening.. I have a bowl of water for the air humidity and am going to put a peat moss hide in there in the week.. i actually think he looks fine at the min. I wonder how active they are supposed to be though because it is only occasionally i see him walking round xx